Gunn High School is in the middle of a massive facility upgrade. Football, soccer and lacrosse players play on new artificial turf, softball and baseball players have new fields and aquatic athletes will soon have a brand new pool. Titan hardwood athletes may be wondering why the basketball, volleyball and badminton programs and the ten teams between them that practice in the gym have to share court space and gym time. On March 21, the Palo Alto Unified School Board approved the plan to build a second gym. According to Athletic Director Chris Horpel, an additional gym will be hugely crucial to the success of our athletic programs.

Girls’ varsity basketball coach Sarah Stapp has been pushing for the construction of a second gym. “It’s our top priority right now,” Stapp said. According to Stapp, her team would ideally practice for around two hours by themselves. The gym was split between varsity and junior varsity each practice this season. “There were more distractions, and with the gym to ourselves everyone would pay more attention,” Stapp said

Basketball, being a winter sport, begins during girls’ volleyball in the fall and runs into badminton in the spring. The basketball program did not have significant gym time prior to the start of the preseason because of the conflict. The volleyball program packed up and left at 5:30 p.m. instead of the usual 6 p.m. for the last three weeks of the season as the varsity team was pushing towards Central Coast Section playoffs. The basketball season ran exceptionally long this year, which pushed back the start of badminton season. With two gyms, volleyball and basketball could practice simultaneously, maximizing the effectiveness of preseason training for basketball while bolstering the volleyball postseason. In transition season between basketball and badminton, the badminton program can begin training earlier and harder, not harming basketballs’ postseason.

In addition to more flexible practice times, a second gym will be beneficial across the board for the volleyball program. Currently, each of the three teams gets one court to practice on. With more gym space teams will be able to use multiple courts for practice and do more position training. Safety of the athletes will also improve. “There are 60 girls in the gym, and balls everywhere,” former volleyball head coach Raudy Perez said.

Due to the absence of a gym, badminton training was taken outdoors. According to sophomore Nick Talbott, this was a disadvantage. “The incoming freshmen weren’t able to train as much, therefore not being as prepared,” Talbott said. “[Having] the gym definitely would have helped.”

According to Horpel and the preliminary construction drawing, the floor space of the new gym will be the same as the current gym, but necessary changes will also be increased. The ceilings will be pushed higher for the convenience of volleyball and badminton players. Volleyball, wrestling and badminton matches will be primarily played in the new gym.

Gaining full approval to build a second gym can take up to six months. The rough plan has already been approved by the school board. Now, it will be taken to an architect, who will draw up a complete plan for construction, which will go to the state of California to give the final seal of approval.

Horpel aims to have the new gym fully constructed and ready for use by September 2011. “The athletic facilities will be upgraded step by step,” Horpel said. “This is just phase one.”